Show p 5 All An 11 Ov r But th the II r. r l r Richard Powell Sh 00 t AN INNER SANCTUM MYSTERY l STARRING ARAB AND ANDY BLAKE u uras f rf THE TIlE STORY THUS FAR Lt Andy Anly Blake and his wife Arab discovered evidence evi evl dence of ot a spy ring beaded headed by a Mr Jones Followed ved to Andys Andy's house by Jones' Jones can gang Arab was taken prisoner but Andy who they believed de dead d was left behind Andy reported t to I the army and then set out for tor a service station sta Lion tion operated by tho the gang cane an He lie took the operator prisoner and called Intelligence Before help could arrive two members of at the tho rang gang drove up and took Andy with them When they cot got to the seashore Andy offered to run the boat to the I Island d hangout Before they cot got to to- to the Island Andy managed to upset the boat and to swim to Both men unable to swim were drowned CHAPTER XV Or I could go down to the boat- boat house louse The garvey was probably there here but I didn't know how to start a marine engine engine or or any other for that matter Its It's all I can do to start an electric razor If It I had an arsenal I couldn't handle it Except maybe a seventy Perhaps I could remember enough of my Field Artillery to fire that Yes sir if I could only find a seventy-five seventy nobody was using and it right here and let them have it over open sights everything would be jake I got up disgustedly The dumbest dogface from a replacement training train- train training ing ng center would be better equipped for or the job than I. I He would have got at it sooner too He would pick pickup up ip up a hunk of driftwood and walk into nto the house and start batting peole people peo- peo pie le over the head It wasn't a bad idea dea I slipped down the dune and crept toward the house keeping in n the shadow of the pilings My toes oes buckled against a nice hunk of driftwood It was bat baseball-bat size and had some nasty-looking nasty nails atone at atone atone one end I took it along The concrete concrete concrete con con- crete building loomed up over my head I scrambled across the pilings pil- pil ings and examined the place The locked door was faced with sheet iron ron and it had no windows Up I near the roof however perhaps twelve welve feet from sand level were slots lots in the concrete two on each ide of the building The place looked like an heirloom dating back to 0 Prohibition You could store a alot alot lot ot of Scotch inside and if you had hada a rifle you could make hijackers think hink bathtub gin was healthier When Then I pressed my ear against the he door I picked up a faint hum and a ticklish vibration Five would get you ten it was a dynamo the place lace had to provide its own power I bruised my shoulder against the door loor but it wouldn't budge Now I would never find out whether or not you needed a BS in Electrical Engineering to wreck a dynamo I took a few practice strokes with the he hunk of driftwood The follow- follow through wasn't perfect but that didn't matter It wasn't a case of ot trying to break eighty Just heads I 1 crept around a corner of the house louse and spotted a man sitting on the he back steps He wasn't looking toward oward me I walked up quietly He wasn't anybody I knew so I turned the rusty nails naBs away before letting him have haveit it on the back of the head 1 1 u. u v SJ v c L li unu lw Hit 5 sana lace i I dragged him into the shadow of the steps He seemed to be alive but butle bute h he le e would need more than aspirin b before he would want to take an i ig interest in things I switched a Luer Luger Lu- Lu LuI ii g ger er from his pocket to mine hoping hop hop- I i ing ng that it wouldn't start shooting h holes loles in my leg and then padded into nto u the house I inched along the wall and found a door It wasn't going to be fun funo t to o take a room-by-room room census but butt i it t had to be done The knob turned easily I slipped inside waited Somebody was breathing Once before be be- f fore ore I had waited in a dark room while the fat man breathed near by The memory of it made the back of my neck prickle I couldn't tell whether or not the breathing sounds were like those the fat man had made I reached forward touched a bed I lifted the hunk of driftwood driftwood drift drift- wood stretched out my hand drift I farther farther farther far- far I ther farther I IA A chill skated up my arm My fingers touched a slender body It was half naked and it tried to move away from my fingers A girls girl's voice said wearily Please dont don't please dont don't please dont don't please The sound droned on as if a worn needle had stuck on a very old phonograph record My throat felt sandy Arab I whispered Arab They haven't brought her back yet they haven't brought her back bach yet they they they-It I I shook the slim sIim bare shoulders Stop it Im I'm not going to hurt hurl I you I want to help But you'll have I I Ito to tell me a few things first I Weve been all aU over it before I she said fretfully I 1 didn't see any any- I from my window except some people in that house giving each other other other oth oth- othI I er a Nazi salute and Joey and Mrs Fielding were there and I dont don't know knox P anything more and Ive I've told you yot I I and told you Id I'd forget it if you Id let I j I I Ime me go Paula Paua Yes You are Paula Thompson arent aren't L Lyou you You lived in Mrs Fieldings Fielding's i house On the second floor You know that youre you're just trying try try- ing to drive me rue crazy she sobbed And I get scared talking this wa way r rin in the dark Youre You're going to hurt hur t I me again I Paula Im I'm your friend Im I'm Arabs Arab's husband Im I'm going to get you out of of- of She began crying quietly and repeating repeating repeating re re- re- re Its just another trick its it's just another trick I ran my fingers lingers down her armand arm armand armand and located a strap at her wrist Below it her fingers were cold The strap held her wrist to the bed frame I found the buckle unfastened unfastened unfastened it and reached across to free her other arm A sharp intake of breath cut off her sobbing I couldn't see her but I knew she was lying there rigidly eyes dilated trying to understand A small icy hand touched my undershirt crept up over my chin and face and hair I III dont don't know V you she whispered For the first time tune there was hope in her voice Of course you dont Now youve you've got to answer some questions forme forme for forme me and then youre you're leaving You wont won't turn on the light will you she gasped A minute ago I was afraid of the dark but now I I. I 1 I W wco S a at iii me lOOt of the bed I yanked it loose and tossed it around her clear on the first floor I said Go quietly downstairs and out the back Dont Don't worry about the man beside the steps He wont won't bother you Can you swim a long way Or start a motorboat No uNo Well then run down to the in in- let Dig a hole in the sand and andI f I turned the rusty nails away before before before be be- fore letting him have it I I I I I I I I I I I I j I I I I wrap yourself in the blanket and crawl in and sprinkle sand all over yourself Dont Don't move unless you see seea a Coast Guard cutter in the inlet Know what a cutter looks like Oh yes Once they made me stand behind the curtains and they pointed out a cutter to me and laughed and then they they they- She was getting choked up again and I broke in If you see a cutter near enough scream like hell If it gets daylight make sure youre you're well covered And dont don't worry about what may happen here All I want you to do is get away safely Got it What That about you Ill make out How many people are here right now U Joey and Mr Jones and and Bill BilI Something stirred in my memory Bill who McAdams Yes Yes The uThe guy you were supposed to have eloped with Yes But I didn't really I didn't Why I didn't love him at all I thought we were just having friendly dates and I phoned him about the Nazi meeting and and he was terrible and and and- He UHe made you call up the next morning and tell the girls you had hac eloped didn't he Yes and all an the time I was right in that house next door where the fat man lived Jived They stood around me and made me call Then the next day they brought me here hero They were going to make me write letters if anybody got suspicious of what had become of me It was awful And they they they- Take it easy Bill McAdams is the one I clubbed as I came in Who else is here all the men And Mrs Fielding and a slender girl with shoulder-length shoulder blonde hair They call her Arab Did you say she's your wife Yes Have they well well is she she she- I No uNo she said quickly no uno they I think they've just been talking to her so far Where are they Theres a 11 big sort of map room roomI two doors down the hall hail They might be in it Or upstairs O 0 K I went to the door and I opened it Whispers still crept along the walls Get going Paula And good luck The blanket rustled and a hand touched my arm and the stairs hegan began began be be- he- he gan mewing under her feet There was no change in the whispers I waited a few minutes until I was sure that she was out of the house I slipped down the hall hail counting doors One One two I eased it t open a crack and looked in A hooded desk lamp was lighted but no one one was in the room This was it This was the fatman's fat fatman's fatman's mans man's Berchtesgaden This was where he sat like a plump white toadstool brewing poison I knew I ought to get on with the j job b of batting batting batting bat bat- ting people over the head but the room was too fascinating to leave I wanted a closer look at the filing cases and huge maps and the short short- wave transmitter studded with gleaming knobs and dials I walked in n and closed the door Somewhere in the big sweating country o. o try behind me people had been talking Talking proudly of myson myson my myson son and my war work Some of the words had echoed from one person to another until they became whispers scurrying through this gray house A fat man had moved slowly to a filing cabinet and pulled out fat envelopes marked with divisional divisional divi divi- insignia He had studied what the contents of the envelopes told him of the state of training strength and location of the divisions Then he had moved little flags on a wall map to a maneuver area to a staging area to an overseas base Or he had pulled out an envelope envelope envelope en en- marked B 17 and had added the fact that they had started to come off the line with twin stingers in the tail There were plenty of gaps in his collection I checked a subject on which I had some inside information information information tion and found that he was far behind behind behind be be- hind the parade That wasn't much comfort Even when he only had one extra fact it was one too many It seemed like a good idea to mess up his collection as much as possible possible possible pos pos- sible just in case anything went wrong with my plans I let the files flIes alone It would take hours to open every cabinet and destroy the con con- tents The pins on the map were another matter He might not have havea a small scale duplicate and it would take days of studying the filed flIed material to replace the pins prop prop- erly I swept my hand over the big map The pins bent like tiny bows leaped free With them fluttered small paper bags lettered with the numerals of divisions and airplane squadrons The maps were clean Too clean I couldn't resist a temptation I picked up the Fifth Air Force and First Armored and the sec Eighty ond borne Air-borne and a couple of hot infantry divisions and landed a task force in Berlin In a glass case in a corner were four rifles a shot-gun shot a Tommy gun several revolvers and even a hand grenade I let them alone My Table of Basic Allowances called forone for forone forone one club and I was already over- over equipped with a n Lur Luer I would nev- nev n er be able to handle The gleaming panel of the short short- wave transmitter deserved some attention attention at at- attention though I looked behind the panel and selected the biggest tube I could find one which bulged with cathode and grid and anode I decided decided decided de de- de- de against breaking it because it might explode too loudly Instead of that I dropped it in the wastebasket wastebasket wastebasket waste- waste basket and covered it with papers It was only a start anyway By the time I finished with the short short- wave set the only way it would ever reach would be beby beby beby by parcel post I stretched out a hand toward the wiring then got an idea which wiped the radio from my thoughts I raised the blackout curtain of one seaward window I swung the lamp around on the desk so that its light glared directly out to sea Theres There's one code signal everybody knows I blinked it on the desk lamp Dot Dot Dot Dot- DotA A voice jeered illegal Jack Wanna Vanna get us fined I swung around clawing for the Luger I might just as well weB have tried to coax a live crab from my pants pocket Joey Raeder and the fat man stood in the doorway watching watching watching watch watch- ing with polite interest A couple of automatics were looking my way too I froze I glanced at the hunk of driftwood driftwood drift drift- driftwood wood three feet away on a table If it had been in my hand I could have thrown it I said That sporting sporting sport sport- sporting ing instinct of yours will get you booted out of the Joey said The uThe guy asked for it Chief so so- so Wait the fat man said But Chief Chief- Lower the window shade Joey And you you the the blind glasses glared at me me bring bring your right hand out of your pocket slowly and clasp both hands behind your head I obeyed There wasn't anything to be gained by seeing if I could jump ten feet in less time than a trigger finger could move a quarter quarter quarter ter inch Joey detoured around me and pulled down the shade Then he came up behind me and carefully worked the gun out of my pocket TO BE CONTINUED |